


save me a seat courtside

by Drenched



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ATLA WLW Week 2020, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Sports, F/F, Gen, Humor, because i thought aliens doing sports would be hilarious, friends being friends, i have no idea how to do tags anymore, it's the space olympics baby, lesbian katara folks, my girl song is a hopeless lesbian you know how it is, toph is agender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26653870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drenched/pseuds/Drenched
Summary: "That's the Fire Nation Princess Azula," Jin says, voice hard. "Her team is also competing in the volleyball tournament, we'd better stay out of her way." "That might be, uh, difficult," Song whispers. The three of them are heading towards Song, Zuko, and Jin. "Why is she coming over here?""She's my sister," Zuko mumbles out of the side of his mouth."What?" Jin shouts.***Space aliens au AND a sports au because why not!!!
Relationships: Jin & Song (Avatar), Jin & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Song (Avatar), Song & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	save me a seat courtside

"Song, heads up!"

Song, currently staring out the window of the transport pod, blinks, gasps, and quickly brings her arms up, setting the ball into the air before it hits her in the face.

Across the pod, sitting opposite her on the plush seats, Jin laughs, leaning back on their tail to snag the ball before it breaks the pod's glass ceiling. "All those eyes and you still couldn't see it coming," they tease.

Song blushes, skin between the twenty-two eyes covering the upper part of her face turning red. "There's just so much to see." She'd never left the Earth Kingdom before, hardly ever even leaving her home planet. The Neutral Ring was unlike anything she'd ever seen, and she uses her neck's full 360 degrees of rotation to see everything we can. The transport pod flies over the surface of an ocean, a holographic helpfully telling her that it's called the Kwan Sea, home to over 4,000 species of underwater plants and animals. Around and above them are other pods, all zooming towards an island that's approximately thirty minutes out of their position.

"Do we really need to practice now, anyway?" Song asks, lifting a three-fingered hand to the window. She realizes there are pods under the water, too, racing along underneath them, filled with species whose home planets are underwater.

" _Yes_ , we have to practice," Jin says enthusiastically. "The volleyball tournament starts in two days, we need to be ready."

"We need all the help we can get," Zuko adds from the chair next to Song. The dragon sends a puff of smoke into the air, curling his long tail over his midsection. "We'll be up against the best of the best from the four sectors."

Jin rolls their eyes. "We'll be fine, sparky, but it'd be nice if you exercised your positive attitude for once."

The dragon sniffs, blinking his jeweled eyes. "Zuko's right," Song says, coming to his defense, "the competition this year's steep."

"So we _are_ practicing, then!" Jin sings triumphantly, hopping on their tail to spike the ball into Zuko's face. He flips his tail over his head, between his horns, and deflects the ball to Song, who passes it back to Jin.

"Zuko, that was great, even though it came from your left side!" Song says encouragingly. Zuko shifts, obviously uncomfortable with Song mentioning the scar that lead to permanent blindness of his left eye. His scales slide against each other, scraping loudly in the small transport pod.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbles, running a tongue across his long teeth. The gesture would be scary if Song weren't used to it as a sign of discomfort. "No one's going to expect us to do anything, we're just the refugee team," he says dejectedly.

"Hey!" Jin reaches out a hand and pulls on his tail, making him yelp loudly. "Stop that! We're good, we deserve to be in the tournament."

"Lot's of other sports have refugee teams, too," Song reminds him. "A lot of athletes have been replaced by the war."

The pod goes quiet, then, as all of them think on the legacies of pain the war has caused. Jin brightens first, as they normally do.

"I think it's great that they're doing refugee teams!" they say excitedly. "It gives us a chance to rebrand, show the world we're more than useless baggage on planets' doorsteps," they add.

"It's a sham," Zuko snaps back. "A political ploy to show false unity and strength where it really isn't," he says disgustedly.

Jin rolls their eyes at his negativity. "What do you think, Song?"

Song purses her lips, rolls her upper tongue along the roof of her mouth. "I think you're both right," she says eventually. "It gives us a good image, but ultimately Zuko's right, it's making it seem like we don't need resources, or help at all." She focuses four of her eyes on Jin and three on Zuko and lets the rest go haywire as they please. "It _is_ propaganda, I wouldn't be surprised if the idea came from the Fire Nation itself."

The tiny, two-planet entity of the Fire Nation has been waging war against the other four sectors for one hundred years, wiping out the Air Belt, a group of tiny asteroids that didn't behave like any other planets and bounced from system to system happily. Four years ago they'd started up the Intergalactic Games again as a sign of unity across the galaxy, which Song privately thinks is bullshit.

"If you think it's propaganda, why are you here?" Zuko asks suspiciously. Song turns all of her eyes on him, tensed at his not-so-subtle probing. "I've never left my home planet," she explains. "Except when we were fleeing from the Fire Nation. I wanted to see some more of the world. Why are you here?" she asks, uncharacteristically seeking conflict instead of letting the issue lie.

Zuko shrugs. "My Uncle thought I should go," he says sullenly. "Well your uncle was right," Jin says, trying to lighten the mood. "You're a great player, we definitely need you on the court."

Zuko nods, hackles raised behind his head. Song sighs, decides she's going to be the bigger being.

"I just hope our passports work," she changes the subject, reaching over to finger the document in her satchel. "We'll be fine, inter-galactic law is on our side and will grant us safe passage," Jin says assuredly. Besides, the Earth Kingdom will back us up."

Zuko doesn't look convinced, and honestly, neither is Song, but they don't say anything more on the topic. Just then the lights at the base of the pod's windshield glow green. " _Landing in five minutes_ ," a robotic voice informs them. The three players gather their things and stand up, Zuko flying at about Song's head. He's a smaller species of dragon than some of the other giants, head only a bit bigger than a humanoid and body stretching out to two meters at max length. He slips his tail through the strap of his own bag and Jin clutches the ball in the curve of her large, flat tail.

The transport pod docks with a bump, making Song and Jin stumble, before the hatch unlocks and they move into a huge hangar. Song's breath sticks in her throat. All around them, other athletes are exiting pods, moving through the station before taking trams or ferries to their quarters before the opening ceremony tonight. There are a number of beings flying above her head, and to her right a group of what look like moles are walking up out of the earth. The hangar is open to the sky, the twin suns of the neutral ring beaming down on them. There are metal escalators, elevators, etc. Song keeps twisting her head around, desperate to take it all in.

Jin, who played in the last games, notices her excitement and laughs at her. "Don't hurt yourself," they chirp happily. Beside her, Zuko actually chuckles at Song's naive interest, but puts his tail behind her, nudging her along in the right direction, leaving her eyes free to look around.

Jin pulls an electronic map out of the Olympic welcome packet they'd gotten in the mail. "Our hotel is this way," they say, following the arrow. Zuko and Song walk behind her, but at some point they stop, or rather Zuko stops, and Song, because he's pushing her along, stops too. Jin has to double back. "Guys, what gives?"

They sound confused enough that Song pulls half of her eyes out of their crazed looking and focuses on her, but they're looking at Zuko, who has completely frozen in the air. Putting all twenty-two eyes on him again, Song realizes he's nervous, eyes staring at something in the distance. Following his gaze, Song looks and sees three beings dressed in Fire Nation colors. One of them is a dragon who looks a lot like Zuko, but with blue scales instead of red. Another is a vaguely humanoid being, although much taller and covered in what look like sharp porcupine quills. The third, also humanoid, floats high in the air.

"Is that an Air Being?" Song asks Zuko under her breath, and he isn't completely gone because he shakes his head. "Not directly, at least," he amends quietly. "That's Ty Lee, she might be descended from them, though."

"That's the Fire Nation Princess Azula," Jin says, voice hard. "Her team is also competing in the volleyball tournament, we'd better stay out of her way." "That might be, uh, difficult," Song whispers. The three of them are heading towards Song, Zuko, and Jin. "Why is she coming over here?"

"She's my sister," Zuko mumbles out of the side of his mouth.

" _What?_ " Jin shouts, loud enough that a few other beings give them strange looks. "You couldn't have mentioned this before?" Song mutters, squaring her shoulders against the coming confrontation.

"It didn't come up," Zuko says guiltily, and no time to say anything more, the Fire Nation interplanetary volleyball team is on top of them.

" _Zuzu,_ " the dragon purrs. She's a deep blue to Zuko's red, and Song notices that she makes a point to fly a few inches higher than Zuko. She has to clamp down on the urge to roll her eyes.

"Zuzu?" Jin repeats, balancing backwards on their tail and fighting a grin. "Azula," Zuko says in a low voice, ignoring Jin. "What are you doing here?"

Song winces, she can't help it, and beside her Jin throws Zuko a grimace. What a stupid question, couldn't he handle himself around his younger sister?

In front of them, Azula throws her head back, barking out a laugh. " _Competing_ , obviously. A better question is what are _you_ doing here?"

Song speaks up. "Competing, obviously," she parrots. Azula turns her harsh gaze on her, and Song wishes she had eyebrows like Jin and some of the other humanoids so she could raise them. Among her kind she could shut half of her eyes and they would know it as a challenge, but she doubts Princess Azula would recognize the gesture. Even though her father invaded Song's home planet and tried to wipe them out, she thinks to herself bitterly. Song resigns herself to a mock salute.

The dragon runs her tongue over her teeth, and this time it's definitely meant as a threat. "And who, exactly, are you?"

Song lifts her chin. "I'm Zuko's teammate," she says defiantly. The dragon rolls her eyes. "Cute," she says dismissively, before turning back to her brother. "It's nice that you've made some new... _friends_ ," she says, lips curling into a smirk.

Beside her, Song realizes Zuko is trembling. She reaches out with one of her extra appendages that grow from between her shoulders, a light, airborne arm of soft flesh, invisible to all species except her own kind, and strokes it down Zuko's back in a way that she hopes is comforting. The dragon jolts, looks to her in a moment of confusion, and she smiles reassuringly at him.

"Well, I think it's _great_ you still get to compete, Zuko!" Ty Lee says from above them. She must be an Air Being, she's spent the entire interaction bouncing up halfway to the hangar's ceiling and gently floating down again. Song's young for her kind, but she's old enough to remember the Air Beings, or nomads as they called themselves. She'd met a couple, before Sozin did… what he did, and she remembers the way the enhanced gravity of their home asteroids allowed them near weightlessness when visiting other planets.

"You're such a good player, it would be a shame if you weren't in the Games at all!" Ty Lee continues, floating gently down to the floor before bouncing lightly upward again. The third being sniffs.

"Don't you want to say hi to Zuko, Mai?" Ty Lee encourages, and the porcupine-covered figure rolls their eyes but raises a quill-free hand in salute.

"Hi, Mai," Zuko says quietly, and okay, there's definitely past history between them. "Well, we'll leave you to check in, find your way around," Azula says with faux-courtesy. "See you on the beach, Zuzu," she adds, turning away. "Mai, Ty Lee, let's go," she commands, and the other two follow along behind her, into a tram that quickly zooms away.

Song stares after them, bewildered by the encounter, while Jin folds their arms over their flat chest and sticks Zuko with a hard look. "Care to share with the class about whatever _that_ was?"

Zuko grunts, eyes flashing, and flicks his tongue out at Jin. "None of your business," he rudely retorts, and his bad attitude shocks Jin so much they bound up on their tail, doing a full backward flip. "You can't talk to me like that, Zuko, come on!" they say when they've landed.

"Jin," Song says quietly, "leave it." She's worried about Zuko, seeing his sister clearly has him rattled. She reaches out to him with her invisible arm again, but he flinches from her at the contact, blowing smoke in her face. She blinks all twenty-two eyes at him but let's it go.

"Can you at least tell us about the other teammates, so we know what we're up against?" Jin asks obnoxiously.

Zuko snorts, a thin flame shooting out from his nostrils, but nods anyway. "Ty Lee is descended from the air nomads, probably," he explains again as they start walking in the direction of their tram. "She has their genetic response to the strong gravitational pull of their asteroids. Azula is, well, like me," he fumbles. "And Mai, uh, they can sprout two extra arms at will," and now Zuko's distracted. "They, um, they're both also competing in some of the knife throwing tournaments."

"Mai and Ty Lee?" Song asks.

"No, just Mai. Mai is, uh, actually two beings, technically, but they've been in a symbiotic relationship since birth, so they count as one. It's um, normal, for their species."

Jin zeroes in on his discomfort. "Did you guys date, or what?" and Zuko sneezes a burst of fire so hot he actually sends himself flying backwards. Song can't help it, she laughs at him quietly, and Jin laughs much louder. "Asked and answered, then."

Zuko opens his mouth to either try to cover his tail or tell Jin to stuff it, but he never gets the chance.

"Zuko!" Someone yells, and the three of them turn to see what Song guesses is a Water Being walking towards them angrily. They're vaguely humanoid, covered in fish scales, and have the characteristic 'v' tattoo in the area above their eyes. Their hair fans out behind them, glittering with small luminous orbs, probably used to attract prey in the dark, cold waters of a planet so very far from a sun.

" _Yang tu p'a,_ " Jin swears in their native tongue. "Is there anyone here who _doesn't_ have beef with you?"

Zuko shivers in the air. "I make a lot of enemies," he says loftily, but the way he's curling in on himself dampens the effect.

A motley group trudges behind the Water Being, all of whom seem a lot less angry than they are. Song studies them, eyes going wide as she realizes that one of them is a bona fide Air Being, in the flesh. The being bounces like Ty Lee, except this one reaches all the way to the hangar's ceiling.

" _Wow,_ " Song breathes, and Zuko nods. "Yeah, he's the real deal. One of the only ones left after my grandfather…" he mumbles, and Song's head nearly splits at the reminder that her teammate is actually a member of the Fire Nation royal family.

"Don't think we're going to forget about that," she says, flapping a hand toward Jin.

"Yeah, you're totally not off the hook," Jin adds, and Zuko nods wearily.

"Want to fill us in on these folks," Song prompts quietly. They're still heading over, but the hangar is big and Song, Zuko and Jin aren't about to give them any help. Not with the way the Water Being leading the group is still shouting something unintelligible.

"Yeah, okay, that's the team from the Air Nation," Zuko explains. "They got special permission to play because Aang's technically still an Air Being, which means they're not extinct, like we thought."

"How did he survive?" Song wonders aloud.

"Lone ship that lost contact with any fleet, put it's commander in hypersleep when it started to lose power." Song looks at Zuko. "He's really the last one, isn't he?"

Zuko hangs his head, whiskers drooping onto the floor. "Yeah."

"What about the others?" Jin interrupts them. "What do we need to know?"

"I played against them in a few smaller competitions, when I was still….with the Fire Nation. The one in the Earth Kingdom insignia, Toph, they're a shapeshifter. They got moored on an uninhabited planet except for badger-moles, and they basically grew up there, so that's the form they're most comfortable in," Zuko rattles off. "They usually take a form somewhere between a humanoid and a badger-mole. They're totally blind," he adds softly, "they choose to play that way."

The being, Toph, who really does look like a regular human and a badger mole drank too much and ended up in bed together, reaches out and pulverizes one of the tacky, earthen benches meant to provide comfort for any rock-dwellers at the station. They walk right by the loose earth and behind them, it magically re-knits into a bench again. Song keeps twelve eyes on the being, hoping they'll do it again, and turns the rest toward Zuko. Jin's got their arms folded across their chest again.

"They lived with telekinetic badger moles," Zuko clarifies, "able to control earth." J

in nods. "Make that a priority in the next report."

Zuko bares his teeth. "Easy, champ," Song cautions. "What can you tell us about the others?"

"The last two are both Water Beings, from one of the smaller planets of the Southern tribe."

"That must be why they're competing for the Air nomads," Jin realizes. "The Northern Tribe started sending teams to compete without including any Southern athletes after…" they have the uncharacteristic tact to trail off.

"After my ancestors raided them and bled them dry, yes," Zuko says, lips thin.

"What are their names?" Song asks. "Sokka and Katara," Zuko supplies, lifting his chin at each of them in turn. "They're brother and sister."

By now Katara has reached them. Song gives her just two eyes, letting the rest study Toph, Sokka, and the Air Being. It sparks something warm in her chest to see one of their kind again.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Katara is sneering at Zuko.

"Competing," Song says off-handedly, beginning to feel like a broken record.

Katara turns her nose up at her. "And who are _you_?"

Song wonders if this is just going to be a repeat of their standoff with the Fire Nation team. She turns all her eyes on the Water Being and stops short because, uh, whoa. Katara is like, really pretty. Her two main eyes are large, taking up almost half of her face. One of them is luminously white, glittering like an opal, the other a dark, silky black. Framing these larger eyes are four smaller ones, in pairs of two on the upper and lower edge of the big dark and light ones. The tinier ones are spaced about half a centimeter away from the larger ones, towards the outer edge of her face. They range from dark blue-black, like Song imagines the churning waters of an ocean planet to look like, and ice-blue, so light they're almost white. The luminous points of her hair are moving, Song realizes from this close, swirling her the part of her hair that's loose around her like it's caught in a current. Her skin is dark and leathery, like a seal's. She's stunningly beautiful.

Song has, apparently, lost the ability for speech because she just stands there, all of her eyes staring at Katara. "We're his teammates," she hears from somewhere very far away.

" _Oh, cool, do you guys have names?_ " Song hears the Air Being say in her head. This jolts her back to the present as Jin screams "what the fuck!?"

Song smiles with three eyes at the Air Being, answers him through the gateway he's opened in her mind. " _My name is Song, and this is Jin._ "

"Aang speaks through telekinesis," Sokka explains, and Song can hardly spare an eye for him, too engrossed as she is with his sister. She sees that he's got the same eye colors Katara has, although his eyes are smaller, and his hair is much shorter than hers, drawn up in a ponytail on top of his head.

Aang is beaming at Song. " _You've spoken with Air Nomads before?!_ "

" _Yes,_ " she thinks back, happy that she can do him the kindness of communicating with him in the way of his people. " _I've been around since before the war started, I met the Air Nomads several times when they traveled to my planet._ "

Their conversation halts for a moment, and Song guesses that he's clueing the rest of his team in on what's happening. "You know how to communicate telepathically?" Katara asks suspiciously. Her voice is harsh and shiny with skepticism, Song might just be in love.

"Yes, uh, well no, not really," she amends. "I can't do it by myself," she explains finally, "but I've talked with Air Beings in the past, and I know how to respond once they've started speaking to me."

"Not many beings can do that," Sokka says, impressed. "My name is Sokka, by the way."

Jin nods. "Zuko filled us in," they say, which brings Katara's attention back to the dragon, staring at him fiercely.

"I'm Jin," they say into the thorny cloud of silence between Katara and Zuko. "My name is Toph," the badgermole-humanoid being says. The form they're taking is small, only coming up to about Sokka's hip.

" _I'm Aang!_ " Song hears in her head, but she's barely listening, all twenty-two eyes on Katara again.

There's a moment of awkward silence. Song feels a nudging between her shoulder blades, realizes it's Zuko prodding her with his tail again. She sends two eyes looking left and right and sees that Zuko is giving her a concerned look. On her other side, Jin, who has a better idea of what's happening, is smiling so widely Song's worried she'll strain herself. Song peels four more eyes away from Katara, sees that the rest of the group is silent, giving her weird looks.

"I'm Song," she says in a hurry. Katara, who has noticed Song's attention on her, gives her a smile. "I'm Katara," she says, and Song just about dies.

She tunes out for the rest of the conversation, spends the time studying Katara and smiling shyly at her. Katara grins back, and eventually the groups head their separate ways, ending their meeting with vague promises to find each other after the opening ceremony. Their hostility towards Zuko had all but melted once they'd realized he was no longer playing for the Fire Nation, or even living there, although Katara seemed like she wasn't convinced.

Once they reach their room, Zuko dumps his bag by the door and zooms into the Dragon's Nest set up in the far corner of the room, on a platform about two thirds of the way up the wall. "At least the accommodations are good," Jin says wryly as Zuko flits about arranging pillows and swathes of fabric to his liking.

"Can't complain," Song agrees, happy with the hammock she'd requested. She leaves the other two alone and steps out onto the balcony. Their quarters are on the third floor of a building resting on suspension bridges next to the island, and from her position she can look down onto the clear water below, see the beach of the island where they'll be competing soon.

She pulls a communicator out of her pocket, boots it up so she can call her mom. Aris answers on the first ring, face filling the small screen.

"Song, sweetheart, how are you?" she asks, all of her eyes focusing on the communicator in her hand, blinking at Song. "I'm okay," Song answers, stretching one hand over her head. "The trip was fine, nothing to report."

"Your teammates are okay? You're getting along with the other athletes?" Aris worries.

Song rolls all of her eyes. "I'm nearly 156, Mom, I'm not a kid anymore."

"Don't roll all of those eyes at me, young lady, you're old enough to cut that out!"  
"Sorry, Mom," Song says, chastised.

"Song has a crush on another athlete!" Jin shouts, thumping the glass door separating the balcony from the room. Song spins around, furious, and Jin laughs. Even Zuko is smiling cautiously. Song had forgotten about Jin's enhanced hearing.

"You have a crush!" Aris gushes. "Tell me all about it!"

"I'll tell you later," Song mumbles. "When some people aren't _eavesdropping_." Jin stares through the door unapologetic.

"Fine, but don't forget," Aris says. "Have a goodnight, sweetheart."

"Thanks. Love you, Mom."

"Love you too," Aris answers, then ends the call.

Song re-enters the room, picks up Jin's volleyball that they left on the floor and chucks it at them. They laugh, catching it easily. "Do you want to talk about it?" Zuko asks, amused.

" _No_ ," Song says forcefully, making Jin cackle even louder. "Do you want to talk about the fact that you're a Fire Nation prince?"

This really isn't fair, putting the spotlight back on him, but Song really doesn't want to talk about how over-the-moon with Katara she was earlier. And besides, Zuko does owe them an explanation.

Maybe Song was being too harsh, though, because the dragon freezes, and Song sighs. "We're your friends, Zuko," she says quietly, and across the room Jin nods, all laughter gone. "You don't have to tell us everything, but we just want to know what happened."

"You want to know what happened? My father gave me this scar and threw me out of his country, that's what happened!" Zuko snaps hotly, and Jin gasps. Song manages to contain her reaction, but she too is totally shocked. She always knew Ozai was capable of cruelty, she'd seen his cruelty firsthand, with the loss of her father, but attacking his own son?

"Shit Zuko, I'm so sorry," Jin says in a rush. "That shouldn't have happened to you," Song adds, and she can feel a wave of protectiveness wash over her. She sends an eye toward Jin and the other being meets her gaze with a hard look and nods. Any question of Zuko's loyalty, of his being an enemy agent, crumbles between them. He's their teammate, and they're going to make sure nothing like that ever happens to him again.

"Well, you're one of us now," Jin says, springing on their tail towards Zuko's nest and dragging her bed along behind them, settling it on the floor underneath him. Song, getting their drift, unhooks the hammock from the nails on the wall and carries it over to Zuko, fixing one end to a light over his head and another to the curtain rod over the balcony door. "It doesn't matter who you were," she says, eighteen eyes trained on him. "We all were somebody else before this war, but now we're here."

"We're a team," Jin adds. "And we're going to protect our own."

Zuko doesn't say anything, but Song thinks some of the tension leaves his body. "What are you doing?"

"Taking a team nap," Jin says, reaching up to flick off the light. Zuko starts to protest, but Song cuts across him. "It'll be fine, I've set an alarm," she says soothingly. "You're tired. I'm tired. Jin is tired. Let's go to bed."

Zuko exhales, smoke curling from his nostrils, and nods. "Nighty night, kiddos," Jin says, before Song rolls over and shuts her eyes.

***

They attend the opening ceremony. It's nice, all things considered, a bit too flashy for Song's tastes. The dinner afterwards is what Song's most looking forward to, and she hurries ahead of Zuko and Jin to get to their table. Song loves looking at what everyone is eating; with so many different species dining under one roof, the meals are planned months in advance and everything is imported. She actually looked into the planning once, lost hours on the net reading about how there's no one head chef, instead, the four sectors bring along specialists in their region's cuisine, and sending as many sub-specialists for the various species as is necessary. The logistics alone of the whole thing are enough to make Song's head spin. She discovers their table, shunted off to the side of the dining hall, which she expected, and sits at her place card, settling herself down so she can watch the other beings come in. They start arriving in small groups, often sectioned off by their sport. She's never seen so many different kinds of beings, and she's so excited she can feel her eyes start to move around on her face, chasing one person or another, swimming across her nose to get a better view.

Eventually, Jin and Zuko straggle in. Song gives them one eye only, waving at them. "Why are there so many extra seats at our table?" Jin asks, which strikes Song as a good question. She actually hadn't even noticed there were extra seats.

They get their answer when they spot Aang and Toph heading towards them, Sokka and Katara not far behind. Zuko sighs dejectedly, then says "well, good for you, I guess," in Song's direction.

" _Hi guys!_ " Aang says in her head. Song gives him two eyes and Katara ten as she says "hey, Aang, Toph, Sokka, Katara!" aloud.

Zuko nods, and Jin waves at them. It turns out Song is seated right next to Katara, which suits Song just fine.

Waiters start flitting about, offering a variety of drinks. It takes them a while to reach the Refugee/Air Nation team, and Song accepts a glass of water from one when they do. "Are you okay?" Katara asks, looking at her with concern.

"Her eyes just move when she's excited," Jin explains, sipping at their wine. "I haven't traveled much," she explains shyly. "There's a lot to see," but she still manages to pull all her eyes towards Katara.

Katara nods, blinks transparent eyelids over the two larger eyes. "I understand. When we left the Southern Water Tribe for the first time, it was really overwhelming," she says in a soft voice.

"What made you leave the Tribe?" Song asks, thrilled to be talking to her crush (her _crush!_ ).

Sokka speaks up. "We found Aang floating in a small airship. After he explained who he was he told us he wanted to do some… traveling, and we followed along with him."

"The Southern Water Tribe is struggling," Katara admits. "The village on our home planet was small, we wanted to see what we could do to help."

"And that meant finding out a bit more about the world," Sokka says with a grin.

"Where did you guys go?" Jin asks, and Zuko ducks his head. Sokka's grin vanishes, and Katara's eyes grow cold.

"We went to some of the asteroids that the Air Beings used to inhabit," Katara says tonelessly.

" _I didn't believe they were really gone,_ " Aang says in Song's head, voice going small and sad. He must have said it to everybody, because the table grows quiet. Katara glares daggers at Zuko.

"Jeez, Katara, could you lighten up," Toph mutters, and Song wonders how they know what Katara's doing.

" _It isn't his fault,_ " Aang says soothingly, and Zuko speaks up. "Some it was," he mutters, not looking at Aang, but then he raises his head and looks Aang in the eyes. "Sorry," he says quietly, and Aang smiles sorrowfully at him.

The table is quiet, moment interrupted when the servers start arriving with plates. Song claps her hands together, excited. She has a surprise planned.

"Ugh, I wonder what they'll feed us this time," Jin says, grimacing.

"They don't know what to feed you?" Sokka says, confused.

"Things always get a little mixed up with the refugee team," Song explains, but she's got a wide grin on.

"What are you so happy about?" Zuko says suspiciously, but then a waiter comes over to Jin and puts a plate in front of them. They gasp.

"Fried Rabinou!" they exclaim happily. Song's got half of her eyes on them and the other half on Zuko. His eyes widen when they see what's on his plate. "Fire flakes and spiced beef," he says quietly, a small smile on his face. "How did they--"

"This has Song written all over it," Jin says with a grateful look at Song, and Song ducks her head. "I wrote to them ahead of time," she explains, happy that her planning worked out. "I'm glad you guys like it!"

Jin gets up, walks around the table to give Song a hug. "Thank you," they whisper in her ear, and after a moment Song feels Zuko curl himself around them. She's shocked at the display of affection, but covers them both with her two extra appendages regardless.

When they break apart, getting back in their seats, Song hears a sniffle. Sending an eye towards Aang, she realizes he's crying. " _That was really sweet,_ " he thinks at her, and from beside him Toph gives him a punch to the shoulder. "Get it together, twinkletoes." Song laughs, gets her own plate and digs happily into the roast duck.

"So how do you guys know each other?" Katara asks. She puts what must be an arm up on the table, laying her chin in a palm that shaped like a fin. Good for swimming, Song supposes. Katara's leaning toward Song, is blinking her eyes at her, and is this….interest? Is Katara interested in her? Song's insides sparkle, she hopes so.

"We all came to the Ba Sing Se planet after the Fire Nation invaded our homes," Jin says. "Displaced," she points a finger to herself, then points at Song. "Displaced," Song said, nodding, turning towards Zuko and following Jin's finger.

"I guess you're displaced, too, huh?" Sokka says with a rueful smile, and Song tenses but there's no bite to his words. After a moment, Zuko says, "I guess I am."

"We all tried out for the volleyball team, we're the ones that made the cut," Song says, a little proudly.

"How did you guys meet Zuko and Toph?" Jin asks, spooning some of the meat into her mouth.

"They picked me up first," Toph answers. "Crash-landed on my planet, actually." Sokka reaches up to tug at his hair. "Yeah, not one of our finer moments," he says uncomfortably.

"Aw, you guys repaid it by taking me along with you and reintroducing me to society," they say with a grin.

"Poor society," Katara mutters, and Song laughs.

"What were you doing on the planet?" Zuko asks, and Song realizes he's interested in his former opponents-turned current opponents.

"I ran away from my parents," they explain, and their voice is matter-of-fact but Song can hear slight tremor. "They wanted me to be something I wasn't."

"That blows," Jin says honestly. "Too right," Toph says, nodding. "I much prefer playing volleyball with these hooligans, anyway," they grin.

"So which of you doesn't play?" Jin asks, and Zuko says "Sokka" at the same time that Sokka himself raises his hand and says "me. I'm their coach."

"Not that we had any say in it," Katara whispers in Song's ear, and Song shivers, lets out a laugh.

"How come we don't have a coach?" Song says to Jin. "Don't need one. We're gonna wipe the floor with you guys in a few days," Jin goads.

Toph laughs loudly. "You can try, sweetheart," they say, and the stones underneath their table rumble ominously.

"Save it for the beach," Katara says, rolling her eyes, and Toph grins but the rocks go steady.

"I have a question," Jin announces, turning to Zuko. "Did you play four on four when you were in the Fire Nation?"

Zuko nods, catching her drift. "It was me, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee," he explains. "Local volleyball in the Fire Nation is four on four."

"So how did you guys play?" Song turns to Katara.

"We have another teammate, Suki," Sokka explains. "She plays with us some, when she has time."

"And Sokka looooves when she has _time_ ," Toph says under their breath, and Sokka sticks out his tongue at her.

The two teams spend the rest of the meal talking, all in all having a pretty good time. More food comes, the night passes above them. Song is in the middle of a story about her and her mother arriving in Ba Sing Se when one of the planet's moons passes overhead, bathing Katara in moonlight and Song's tongues seem to dry up.

The Water Being's entire skin shimmers in the moonlight, intricate patterns that were previously invisible lighting up on her scales and causing Song's brain to short circuit. The pearls in her hair glow even brighter, and Katara sits upright with a straight back, almost preening. She's the most beautiful thing Song's ever seen.

"Uh, Song?" Jin's laughing, Song can hear it in her voice. "You were saying?"

She was talking? That was a whole life ago, Jin. Song's mesmerised by Katara, can hardly remember her own name, but she's got the feeling everyone's looking at her, she's got to say something, so--

"I have two tongues."

The entire table bursts into laughter, Toph slamming their feet on the floor and causing a small earthquake to rocket through the hall. Song flushes bright red, wishing the floor would swallow her up, but then Katara is laughing, too, and if Song thought Katara couldn't get any more beautiful before, she's proven wrong now. She wants desperately to kiss her.

And now Katara is whispering in her ear after the rest of the table has moved onto something else. "Two tongues, huh? I can work with that," and Song glows.

Song makes it through the rest of the evening trading hot glances with Katara, managing not to embarrass herself any further which she counts as a win. The two teams say goodnight, wishing each other luck. "I've looked at the brackets, we'll see you on the court in two days!" Sokka says as he waves goodbye.

They don't see them on the court in two days. The refugee beach volleyball team is knocked out by the Earth Kingdom, a team Song, Jin and Zuko had trained alongside in their facility in Ba Sing Se. It's a blow, but they fought hard, didn't give it up easy, and Song is proud of herself and her team.

Jin is crushed, breezing through the locker room and running out onto the sand, away from the volleyball court and crowd and towards the vast ocean. Zuko, surprisingly, starts to go after them, but Song tugs gently on his tail to keep him in place. "They need to be alone," Song says, and she's known Jin longer than Zuko has, so he takes her word for it. "They--" he stops, forehead scrunching together. "They actually thought we'd win, didn't they?"

Song nods. "They had a lot of hope."

"But you didn't," Zuko surmises, and Song shrugs. "I have hope, but I tend to be more realistic." She pulls on a tunic over her uniform, not even bothering to shower. "You played great," she smiles at Zuko, nudging him with her shoulder. "Totally outclassed us out there, you're really good."

A tiny smile finds its way onto his face. "Thanks, Song," he says quietly. "Want to go watch Katara play?"

" _Desperately,_ " and they head out, picking up Jin on the way.

Katara plays like a hurricane, fiercely defending her territory just in front of the net. Song watches her, tongues practically lolling out of her mouth at the sight of such raw power and tenacity. Toph's right beside her, raising hell and Aang bounds along behind them, Sokka screaming from the sidelines. They play well together, Song realizes, they're all talented, and it's with no small amount of pleasure that they watch the Air Being National Team send the Earth Kingdom Team into a crushing defeat.

Katara pulls away from the celebratory hug to run up to the stands, stopping just in front of Song. "That one was for you," she says, with a cheeky grin, and Song balls up her courage and leans forward to kiss her on the cheek. Katara blushes, Song notes with satisfaction, or what passes for blushing: her skin glows and her eyes dilate heavily. "Gods above, you're so beautiful," Song murmurs, and Katara's eyes dilate further.

"Katara!" Toph calls to her, and Katara smiles softly at Song before rejoining her teammates.

"That was good," Jin says approvingly. Song glances at them with five eyes to see them and Zuko looking over, faces impressed. "Really smooth," Jin adds, and Zuko nods. "Nothing like last night," Zuko says, and Song rolls all of her eyes at them. "Shut up." ***

The Air Being’s victory is certainly sweet, but Song knows what’s coming. Not a one of her eyes can see the future, but she can feel down to her bones what’s going to happen next.

The refugee team shares the sweetness of their new friends’ victory that night, but the next morning Song hold’s Katara’s hand with both of her own as they watch the Fire Nation ruthlessly destroy the best of the best from the Northern Water Tribe. Princess Azula dominates the court at least as well as her father conquers planets.

The stage is set. The Fire Nation team beats the Water Tribes’ team seven to one in the morning, and that night they’ll go head to head with the rag-tag Air Nomads, as Aang has taken to falling them.

“How are you feeling?” Song asks Katara over lunch. It’s much more casual than the first dinner of the Games, food laying out on long tables at athletes can come and pick at as they please.

“Nervous,” Katara admits, but her face doesn’t show it. She looks determined, ready to kick ass, and Song tells her so.

“I hope you think it’s sexy,” Katara says with a straight face, and Song laughs. “You’re sure it’s okay that you’re not eating with your team?” Song asks again.

“I swear, it’s fine,” Katara laughs. “Actually this is my free hour in between Sokka’s crazy, pre game rituals.”

“Oh yeah? What does he make you guys do?”

“Lots of warrior chants, lots of holding hands,” Katara deadpans, making Song laugh again.

Song spears one of the root vegetables on her plate, takes a bite. Across from her, Katara grows quiet.

“Azula she...she fights dirty,” Katara says quietly. “You saw some of the hits they were making on the Northern Water Tribe, totally illegal, and the refs didn’t do anything!”

Song nods, all eyes searching Katara’s face. “She might have bought them off.”

“What?” Katara gasps. “You don’t think she could have done that?”

“Her father is the most powerful person in the galaxy, I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question,” Song says truthfully. She strokes a finger over the back of Katara’s hand. “You’re going up against it, babe.”

Katara relaxes at the endearment, sticking out her tongue. Song smiles, pleased to have been able to clam Katara down, but all too soon Katara’s back stiffens again. Song sends two yes over her shoulder, sees Aang at the back of the hall. He must be talking to her, because Katara stands up. “That’s my cue,” she says determinedly. “Wish me luck.” She turns, starts to go.

“Wait!” Song gets up herself, takes a deep breath, and quickly kisses Katara. She pulls back immediately, hoping it was okay, and Katara immediately chases after her. Her lips are smoother than Song’s own, and Song traces one of her tongues over Katara’s sharp teeth. Katara puts her arms around her, leans back with a sigh.

“Two tongues, huh?” Song blushes, holds Katara’s eyes with all of her own. “Give ‘em hell,” she whispers.

Katara quirks her lip, steals another kiss, then leaves, walking out of the hall with Aang.

Song sees her again five hours later, when she, Aang and Toph walk out onto the sand to the cheers of the crowd. Song stands proudly in her Air Nomads jersey she’d bought just that afternoon, hoping Katara can see it.

Jin puts an arm around Zuko as his sister’s team makes their entrance. “You okay?” Zuko swallows visibly. “We’ll see how this goes,” he says, instead of answering. The players shake hands, take their positions on the court, and soon the ball is lobbed into the air and they’re off.

Song let’s her eyes swim around her face as they please, keeping four on the large screens they’ve up above the game, fed by cameras that zoom around. Katara was right to worry, Azula Mai and Ty Lee are throwing dirty hit after dirty hit, so much so that Jin actually starts calling to the ref. “Hey, open your eyes!” they scream, and more than a few beings join in. “Did Ozai buy them off?” Song mutters to zuko. “Without question,” Zuko answers, and that’s that.

The Air Nomads are giving as good as they get, playing as hard as they can, but compensating for all the low-ball moves Azula’s pulling is clearly starting to add up. Aang gives away one point to Ty Lee, and Katara another, but then she and Toph pull off a brilliant combination move that gets them on the board, and Aang scores his team a hit soon after. It’s not clean volleyball, not by a long shot, but it is riveting, the crowd mostly silent as it watches the game unfold.

The Fire Nation Team starts growing more and more obvious with its fouls as the clock ticks down, and when Toph finally gives and grows an extra arm to block an illegal shot from Mai it gets them thrown out of the game.

“Shapeshifters must stay in their chosen form for the duration of the game,” the ref drones over the furious cries of the crowd. Song screams alongside them, knowing it will do nothing. Sokka runs up to the referee, arguing with him as Toph walks sullenly off the court. "What's he saying," Song asks of Jin immediately, and even Zuko flies closer with interest.

"Sokka's asking if he can make a substitution, the ref will allow it, but it has to be a member of their team," Jin reports, but Sokka must have left the ref before he even finished the question, has vaulted the barrier separating the crowd from the sidelines and is running up the stairs as fast as he can, skidding to a stop in front of Zuko. "How would you like to become a citizen of the Air Nomads?" he pants, and Zuko spits out a streak of flame in surprise. Song gasps out loud, hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Zuko, you have to do it!" she says through her fingers.

"Princess Azula's figured out what you're trying and she's mad as hell," Jin chimes in, eyes on the court. Song looks to the court with five eyes and realizes Jin is right, Azula flitting around in the air angrily, darting from one end of the net to the other as she argues with the ref.

"Will they allow it?" Jin asks Sokka, who furrows his brows. "I think so, we can make you a citizen on the spot, Aang is the only politician of his people so he gets to make the rules. It just has to be somebody who doesn't have citizenship anywhere else." He looks to Zuko imploringly.

"My father banished me from the Fire Nation, I, I don't belong anywhere," Zuko says quietly.

"We can revoke the citizenship as soon as the game's over," Sokka pleads.

"I'll, I'll do it," Zuko agrees, seeming almost surprised himself. Song yelps excitedly, Sokka pumps a fist in the air, and Jin says "you'd better get down there, Azula's almost convinced the re that you've forfeited."

Sokka grabs Zuko round the middle and all but hauls him back down through the stands and onto the court. The referee seems absolutely baffled by Sokka's attempt to borrow an athlete from another team, but he checks in the rulebook and it all seems aboveboard. Song thinks it's the sort of thing they could only get away with once.

After an impromptu citizenship ceremony that Aang definitely made up on the spot, Sokka swaddles Zuko in a makeshift Air Nomad uniform (a plain white tunic) and suddenly Zuko's on their team, taking Toph's spot next to Katara.

The ref hands Aang the ball. He smiles encouragingly at Zuko and Katara, who nod back cautiously. Then he throws the ball into the air, jumps up to meet it, and spikes it viciously right at Azula.

The dragons heads the ball to Mai, who spikes it over the net but Zuko is there to save it. Song and Jin hold hands in a white-knuckled grip as they track the new dynamics of the game.

Sokka must be a good coach, because Aang and Katara are streamlining their moves to better suit Zuko's playing style, keeping the ball in the air for longer than they were with Toph and allowing Zuko to make use of his advanced mobility and match Azula, darting around the court at least as much as she is. It seems to be working, they haven't let another point slip through the hands yet. Then Azula shoots a stream of fire into Zuko's face and spikes the ball at his bad eye. He dives to save it but too slowly, the Fire Nation team is one point ahead, and there's one minute and thirty seconds left on the clock.

"It's no use," Jin says sadly, and Song realizes Sokka is screaming bloody murder at the ref, to no avail. "Come on Zuko," Song says quietly. "Come on."

The crowd is silent as the ref passes Aang the ball again. One minute and thirty seconds to make something happen. He serves the ball cleanly, and for a good forty seconds both teams are passing it back and forth evenly. Song has four eyes on the clock and the other eighteen on the court, saving ten just for Katara herself. She looks frustrated, Song thinks, searching desperately for an opportunity where the Fire Nation team isn't letting anything slip through their net.

Thirty-five seconds left on the clock. Mai makes an attempt to win her team another point but Katara is there to block her.

The ball flies back and forth over the net. Twenty seconds. Song can see Azula's wicked grin from the stands. Ten seconds.

Just then, Aang and Katara jump high in the air, the ball flying over their heads. Aang floats level with it and all three Beings on the other team hit the deck, expecting Aang to spike the ball but instead, he gently passes it to Zuko, who carefully sends it spinning over the net, landing softly in the sand.

Jin and Song jump their feet, shouting nonsense, while Aang and Katara fling themselves onto Zuko. The ref passes Azula the ball with an uneasy expression and she tries to take advantage of their celebration but too late, they're already back in position, Katara returning her serve with a smug look on her face.

Five, four, three, two, one. The buzzer sounds and the crowd goes wild. Still holding hands, Song and Jin rush the court, joining the huge group hug of Katara, Toph, Aang and Sokka, with Zuko scrunched in the middle. "You did it, you did it!" Song screams, and Katara pulls her aside and kisses her hungrily, one fist still victoriously pumping in the air. Song gasps against Katara's lips, excitement and adrenaline and energy swirling around in her system. She puts both tongues to good use, and when she breaks away to suck down a harsh breath Katara looks dazed. Song laughs and kisses her again.

It's a great night, it doesn't even matter that Song and Jin aren't on the podium, because Zuko is. Song is incandescently happy.

Later, after the ceremony when Toph, Aang, Katara, and Zuko have gold medals swinging around their necks, a nondescript looking human wearing what looks to be a flower insignia approaches them. "Hi," the man says, looking over his shoulder all the while. "I heard you guys just took down the Fire Nation national volleyball team." He pauses. "Do you have any interest in joining the resistance?"


End file.
